A hundred intellectuals sign a letter slamming the EU for its inaction over Catalonia

A hundred politicians, intellectuals and MEPs have signed an open letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, and Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, in which they criticise the EU’s silence with respect to the Catalan crisis.

The signatories —which include personalities such as Professor Judith Butler of the University of California, Berkeley, the writer and MEP Barbara Spinelli, the former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, the Italian philosopher Antonio Negri, the Austrian writer Robert Menasse and the French sociologist Eric Fassin— criticize the fact that, in an attempt to defend the indivisibility and sovereignty of Spain, Mariano Rajoy’s government “is violating fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights”. For this reason they argue that the Catalan case cannot be considered an internal affair and urge the European institutions to break their silence and to act as mediators in the conflict.

The letter goes on to say that “the rule of law also includes the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms”, adding that the European Union has reiterated that violence cannot be an instrument to solve political problems.

The letter also denounces the Spanish government’s “reductionist, maimed” concept of “the rule of law” and the risk this would entail, if European institutions were to endorse it.